The powers at NBC, or maybe parent company Comcast have decided to keep, but demote, Brian Williams.
Big Deal? Certainly to Brian Williams, his family, friends and associates at NBC. But does being an anchor really matter, as it did when there were only three TV networks?
Not in my estimation. Because the 24/7 cable news coverage has made the network news casts largely a review of what was reported hours earlier.
Of course, the network evening newscasts, and who anchors them, is very important to the anchors, staffs, sponsors and corporate coffers. That's about it.
The evening network news broadcast and its anchors are not the only victims that the 24/7 cable news channels can claim.
The Sunday morning network political shows have long lost their significance. When TV was in its infancy, the shows were a “must watch” for political junkies. They served the important purpose of giving viewers an opportunity to hear from Congressional leaders about their views on national and international affairs. Today, the Sunday shows are just PR platforms for politicians to sprout talking points.
Sad to say, but network TV anchors, as well as the Sunday morning hosts, have become interchangeable. It’s been ages since a TV news personality has had the stature of Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow, both of whom actually changed American history with their broadcasts.
Murrow with his March 9, 1954 See It Now special "A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy,” is largely credited with helping put an end to the senator’s career.
Cronkite’s reporting on the Tet Offensive is credited with changing American attitudes toward the Vietnam War with his February 27, 1968 CBS News Special Report.
Murrow and Cronkite tower over the current crop of mix and match anchors.
The truth is that the nightly news and Sunday morning political shows, with rare exceptions, are nothing more than a feeble and incomplete synopsis of the news.
The difference between TV and newspaper reporting was never made clearer than during the Brian Williams fiasco. When a print journalist is ousted for fabricating news, heads roll. The "fall" of a TV anchor is just another form of entertainment.
Arthur Solomon, former senior VP at Burson-Marsteller, contributes to sports and PR publications, consults on projects and serves on the Seoul Peace Prize nominiating committee. He can be reached at [email protected].
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